Depleted Perthshire on Wrong End of Eightsome Reel

Hillhead Jordanhill 50 – 8 Perthshire

With 19 players declaring themselves unavailable because of injury or other reasons, it was a severely depleted Shire group who travelled through to Hillhead on Saturday conceding eight tries in a one sided match.  2XV team manager Dave Lewis was one of the men who volunteered to fill the gaps along with the highly promising youngster Louis Woods from Glenalmond College, who had his first taste of senior rugby and let’s hope this experience has not put him off making further appearances for the Eagles.

Perthshire were by far the most impressive side in the first 20 minutes. The scrum was in control and the forwards were supplying good ball for the backs to run and could have gone ahead early on but Jonny Armitt slightly overcooked his kick ahead and Hills scrambled back to win the race for the touchdown.

Rab Pittendriegh managed a huge clearance kick from his line which took Shire deep into the Hillhead 22 and following a quickly taken penalty they should have scored but a knock on let the home team off the hook. Shire kept up the attacking play and the ball was spread wide for Jay Pettie to race through the defence to give his team a well deserved lead.

Unfortunately, that was the end of the game as far as Shire were concerned and it was one way traffic after that. Ollie Bain, had to leave the field injured and with only Dave Lewis and young Louis as replacements, Shire had to shuffle their pack around. Straight from the kick off following Jay’s try, Hillhead’s Rory Harte at stand off ran through most of the Shire defence to score a brilliant individual try. Good defending halted Hillhead’s next attack but a loose clearance kick landed straight into the arms of Hillhead’s Twaddle who is the last person you want to give the ball to. His weaving run had Shire defenders strewn all over the park and try number 2 was scored.

Shire’s scrum was being shunted backwards at every scrum and it is fairly clear that there is a huge lack of fitness in the team as players were slow to reach the breakdowns. Paul McLean and Sammy Obure pulled off a couple of try saving tackles as sheer determination and pride made them race back to cover tackle. Young Kieran Ramsay who is a prop was selected in the back row but due to the call offs he had to move to centre and his versatility was further tested as he even had to throw the ball in at the lineout. Kieran’s tackling can only be described as offensive defence and he can certainly hold his head high after his display.

Hillhead took full advantage of Shire’s clearances not finding touch and this coupled with their dominance in most aspects of the game allowed them to score a further 6 unanswered tries as Shire suffered another hefty defeat. Full marks to all the boys who made the effort to fulfil this fixture and help the team out, but if Shire have any hope at all of avoiding the looming relegation this season then everyone involved in the club needs to pull together and help the 1XV, who are the shop window of the club, to win their remaining games.

There is a break this weekend for 1XV as we are not involved in the cup and the next fixture is at Murrayfield on 1st February. However, the 2XV are playing at home to Grangemouth 2XV on Saturday. 2pm kick-off on the North Inch, all supporters welcome.